Abstract

This article discusses how university faculty collaborated with community partners to host a youth civic engagement event for high school students. At the event, participants learned about leadership, civic engagement, and public service careers through presentations and hands-on activities led by public service practitioners and university faculty. Through a discussion about the event’s background, planning, and implementation, institutions may learn about one university’s experience with hosting a youth civic engagement event and use that experience to guide similar work.

Hosting a youth civic engagement event was not unique to Middle Georgia State University as other educational institutions and community organizations have hosted such events for high school students. What may set the Youth Civic Summit apart from others was its emphasis on partnerships with individuals and organizations actively engaged in the community and public sector workforce to highlight opportunities for students in middle Georgia. Through inviting speakers with personal connections to the university and region, participants engaged in learning opportunities with local community leaders, many of which may have had similar experiences as the participants when they were in high school. Additionally, by hosting this event on campus, guest speakers and participants had the opportunity to interact with university faculty and staff which may help promote continued engagement between the university and community.

Background

As plans for the event were developed, the attitudes and experiences of Gen Zers were considered. Gen Z, born from 1996 to 2012, acknowledges the great challenges facing the United States and recognizes the importance of engagement even though they believe that leaders may not listen to them or value their opinions (Dimock, 2019; Volpe, 2023). Trust in institutions, especially governing institutions and law enforcement, is low, but younger Gen Zers report higher levels of trust in those institutions than their elder generational counterparts (Hrynowski and Marken, 2023). In Georgia, youth reported positive interactions with government institutions (such as through community events) but less positive direct interactions with government officials (such as law enforcement), especially youth that identified as female and Black/Latinx (Rice and Turner, 2022). While Gen Zers report concerns about institutions and how they may be perceived by leaders, they do want to be engaged. As a youth research focus group participant in Atlanta noted, “Our generation wants the country to change for the better. And when given tools, education, resources, and making a choice to band together, we can make change” (Volpe, 2023). With this in mind, event activities were designed to provide opportunities for participants to learn more about civic engagement while interacting with leaders in government and other public service professions.

In addition to activities focused on learning about leadership and civic engagement, the Youth Civic Summit also provided participants with an opportunity to learn about careers in public service. Characterized as a “slow moving crisis,” the public sector is facing a significant shortage of workers across occupations (Rampell, 2022). Nationally, 30 to 40 percent of local government employees are eligible for retirement and, in Georgia, about 50 percent of municipalities report that they currently have or will soon have a shortage of skilled workers (Cairo, 2020; Davis et al., 2022). One way to address the labor shortage is to promote careers in public service as approximately 37 percent of Gen Zers report looking for meaningful work, such as that found in public service careers that provide opportunities to make a positive impact on society (Brower 2024). Careers in the public sector may also be attractive because of the stability, benefits, and work-life balance that may not be as prevalent in the private sector (Lang, 2024).

Partnerships between governments and educational institutions are one way to help address workforce development issues but only 5.2 percent of Georgia’s municipal governments report K-12 outreach activities and only 10.9 percent report postsecondary outreach (Davis et al., 2022).

Georgia public high schools offer students an opportunity to explore 17 career clusters, including a government and public administration cluster. In the cluster, students learn about public administration and management at the local, state, and national level through curriculum focused on topics including: the function and role of government, organizational performance, relationships between the public and private sector, strategic planning, taxation and finance, and policymaking (Georgia Department of Education, n.d.a; Georgia Department of Education, n.d.b). Students also develop problem solving, collaboration, critical thinking, data analysis, time management, and communication skills (Georgia Department of Education, n.d.b). Events like the Youth Civic Summit help grow partnerships between government, K-12 educational institutions, and post-secondary educational institutions to provide enhanced educational opportunities for youth to learn about careers in public service beyond the classroom.

Recognizing the importance of equipping youth in Georgia with knowledge and skills for civic engagement and providing an opportunity to learn about careers in public service to assist in addressing workforce needs, faculty in the university’s Department of Political Science formulated plans for the Youth Civic Summit. The lead organizer, along with the planning committee consisting of political science and education faculty, engaged in planning and implementation of the event for approximately six months before the event. Additional support for specific tasks (such as marketing) was provided through other university staff.

Participant Recruitment

Recruitment focused on public and private high schools (grades 9-12) in a ten-county region served by the university. Working with the university’s marketing department, an event flier was developed for event publicity. The flier, along with an invitation letter, was mailed to approximately 30 school administrators three months prior to the event. The event organizer focused on publicizing the event with administrators instead of civics teachers to ensure a broader audience than students currently enrolled in civics classes. In the two months preceding the event, two follow-up emails were sent and there were requests for additional information about the event. The event organizer followed up on those emails and continued outreach to new contacts that were provided by administrators that received the initial email. The university publicized the event through posting a press release and the event flier on the university’s social media accounts and website.

Event Activities

The Youth Civic Summit sought to model positive working relationships between adults and youth as research has demonstrated that as youth are engaged in activities they want to know that they are respected, heard, and will have opportunities for shared leadership (Miklosi, 2007). Summit events focused on speakers and activities that would inform and engage participants through interaction with guest speakers and fellow participants while also providing opportunities for leadership during group activities. Through leveraging existing connections at the university and in the community and outreach to government officials, the planning committee designed the morning session to provide participants with an opportunity to engage with public servants, practitioners, and university students in conversations about leadership, civic engagement, and public service careers. After the planning committee and university staff members welcomed the participants to campus, the day’s events kicked off with the invited guest speakers.

To set the tone for the event, a speaker from the Georgia Municipal Association shared his insights about leadership and civic engagement. This speaker, well-known for his expertise and engaging presentation style, encouraged participants to reflect on their leadership abilities and how they may use their talents in the community. The message of this speaker appeared to resonate with participants as they were actively engaged during his session and a majority of the comments during an informal feedback session at the end of the event focused on this presentation. Participants reported that they felt empowered by his comments and could recognize themselves as being leaders in their community.

The keynote speaker for the morning session was one of the United States House Representatives that represents much of the university’s service area. As the schedules of congresspersons are often in flux, his appearance was not publicized before the event. The planning committee invited him to the event through a request on his website and were fortunate that the event coincided with a weekend where he would be in the district. Once his schedule was confirmed, the planning committee worked with university officials to coordinate the visit. Through stories about his life and work experiences, the congressperson stressed the importance of leadership and civic engagement and encouraged participants to be actively engaged in the community.

Participants learned more about careers in public service through a roundtable discussion with individuals employed by state and local governments or other public service organizations. Working with the university’s alumni association, the planning committee identified five alumni speakers. Those alumni, along with the speaker from the Georgia Municipal Association, answered questions from participants as well as the following questions from the event moderator:

1. What was your major in college and how have you used what you learned in college in your work?
2. How did you first get involved in public service and civic engagement?
3. What is the meaning of civic engagement and public service to you?
4. What, if anything, do you know now that you wish you had known when you were in your teens?
5. How do you think our communities would benefit from greater involvement from young people?
6. What do you see as key opportunities for young people to get involved in their communities and governance today?
7. For young people interested in civic engagement, which skills would you recommend they develop? (And do you have any advice on how to go about developing them?)

The final morning session featured students involved in university leadership initiatives. The program committee reached out to university staff responsible for coordinating leadership programs to recruit students to speak at the event. Three students volunteered to share their experience as campus leaders and encouraged participants to consider higher education and opportunities for leadership and civic engagement in high school and college.

The event’s afternoon session focused on developing skills for civic engagement, specifically skills related to deliberation. Members of the planning committee led participants through

through activities from the Interactivity Foundation’s (IF) Collaborative Discussion Project toolkit. The toolkit consists of more than 30 activities that IF trained collaborative discussion coaches and others may use to teach creative, critical, culturally responsive, and civic collaboration (Collaborative Discussion Project, n.d.). Two activities from the civic collaboration module were selected for the event – “Identifying Your Civic Passion” (Activity 5.1) and “Seeing Communities as Partners” (Activity 5.4). These activities were selected because of the high level of interaction required and because the activities engaged participants in conversations about important community issues and the stakeholders (including themselves) that may work to address those issues. Additionally, participants had an opportunity to develop and practice leadership skills as they worked through the steps of the activities

Before engaging in the “Identifying Your Civic Passion” activity, participants were divided into two groups and worked through an icebreaker modeled after what they would do in the activity. For the icebreaker, participants discussed candies and worked through a “Sweet 16” bracket to identify their favorite candy. Through initially approaching this activity with a less serious subject, participants were able to develop trust and rapport with each other before delving into conversations about more serious issues. After the icebreaker, participants engaged in discussions about important issues in their community and, through ranked choice voting, seeded the bracket with 16 issues. The issues of interest were diverse and included issues related to the economy, community development, infrastructure, public safety, education, and social identity.

Participants narrowed down the bracket through multiple rounds of discussion and voting to determine the top issue for their group. After the top issues were identified, faculty moderators led a debriefing about the participants’ thoughts on the issues and their experience practicing deliberation.

Using issues from the “Identifying Your Civic Passion” activity, participants identified a list of community stakeholders for the “Seeing Communities as Partners” activity which was modified from its original format due to time constraints. After identifying stakeholders, the participants developed a list of questions to better understand how the issues may be framed by stakeholders and identify existing resources to address the issues. Through engaging in conversations about how community stakeholders may talk about issues and work together to address issues, participants learned more about deliberation, decision-making, and collaboration. In the debriefing for this activity, faculty moderators also encouraged participants to consider their role in the community and the resources they possess that may be used to address issues.

Reflections

Planning outreach events presents a variety of challenges and opportunities, especially working with youth. One of the most significant challenges was event scheduling. Working with schools across a large geographic region, it was difficult to identify a Saturday where there were no other competing events. The planning committee attempted to address this issue by advertising the event months in advance but last-minute conflicts with other school events arose and many registered participants were unable to attend. Ideally, the event would have been held on a school day but that was not feasible for the first year. If the event were held on a school day, that may have addressed some of the issues with conflicting events as well as issues related to transportation. The planning committee discussed providing transportation for the event as they recognized that it could be a barrier to participation, especially on a weekend, but issues of liability were raised. Institutions looking to host a similar event may wish to explore funding to pay for schools to provide transportation for their student participants which could expand opportunities for participation to a larger audience.

Another significant challenge was securing financial support. While the planning committee submitted a budget request well before the event, resources were limited and some requests were unmet. In-kind donations were made by the university’s admissions office and academic departments to supplement the funding provided by the university which primarily covered the cost of food and thank you gifts for the invited speakers. Options for additional financial support may be secured through greater collaboration with the university’s foundation and its community partners.

Hosting the event on the university campus provided an opportunity to promote higher education and the institution. In addition to learning from invited speakers, participants engaged with university faculty and students. Participants briefly learned about the university’s degree programs from an admissions staff member and informational brochures and university branded items were provided in a gift bag. University faculty and students focused on creating a positive environment focused on ensuring that participants felt that they belonged at the event as well as at an institution of higher education.

Perhaps the most important opportunity presented through this event was its potential to educate, engage, and inspire the next generation of civic leaders and public servants. While institutions of higher education play an important role in preparing the next generation for leadership and career opportunities, their work may be strengthened through partnerships with other educational institutions, governments, and community organizations. The Youth Civic Summit may serve as a model for other institutions as they work to advance leadership, civic engagement, and public service education.

References

Brower, T. (2024, April 9). “The Gen Z effect – and how the youngest employees are shaping the future.” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2024/04/09/the-gen-z-effect/

Cairo, G. (2020, June 26). “A double imperative: The public sector must address the silver tsunami and the millennial gap today.” Dayforce. https://www.dayforce.com/blog/public-sector-silver-tsunami-millenial-gap#edn1 Collaborative Discussion Project. (n.d.). “Collaborative Discussion Toolkit.” https://www.collaborativediscussionproject.com/items

Davis, K., Wilson, G., McIver, R., & Crowe, K. (2022). “Municipal Workforce Survey Data Report.” https://convention.gacities.com/GeorgiaCitiesSite/media/PDF/Jobs-With-Purpose-Workforce-Needs-Assessment.pdf

Dimock, M. (2019, January 17). “Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins.” Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millenials-end-and-generation-z-begins/

Georgia Department of Education. (n.d.a). “Career Clusters and Pathways.” https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/CTAE/Pages/CTAE-Georgia-Career-Clusters.aspx    

Georgia Department of Education. (n.d.b). “Government and Public Administration CTAE Survey Summary.” https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/CTAE/Documents/Survey-Results-Government-Administration.pdf

Hrynowski, Z. & Marken, S. (2023, September 14). “Gen Z Voices Lackluster Trust in Major U.S. Institutions.” Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/510395/gen-voices-lackluster-trust-major-institutions.aspx?version=print

Lang, H.E. (2024, July 5). “More recent graduates are eyeing government jobs. There are plenty of openings for them.” Marketwatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-recent-graduates-are-eyeing-government-jobs-there-are-plenty-of-openings-for-them-c0c13ab3

Miklosi, J. (2007). “Respecting, listening and empowering: Three vital factors for increasing civic engagement in American Teenagers.” National Civic Review.

Rampell, C. (2022, September 12). “A slow-moving crisis is paralyzing states and cities.” The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/12/worker-shortage-public-sector/crisis/

Rice, R. & Turner, E. (2022, January 26). “Engaging our youth to improve Georgia’s civic health.” Georgia Family Connection Partnership. https://gafcp.org/2022/01/26/engaging-our-youth-to-improve-georgias-civic-health/

Volpe, J.D. (2023). Looking forward with Gen Z: A Gen Z research report. https://nextgeninsights.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2024/05looking-forward-with-gen-z.pdf

Author

Julie Lester is an Associate Professor and MPA Program Coordinator at Valdosta State University. Before joining the faculty at Valdosta State, she was a Professor of Political Science at Middle Georgia State University where she was the American Democracy Project (ADP) campus coordinator. Lester was recognized as an ADP Civic Fellow for her work on the reimagining of the “Stewardship of Public Lands” initiative. She has participated in a joint learning exchange with the Kettering Foundation and was named to the 2025 cohort of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership. She has taught classes in American national, state, and local government, public administration, and environmental policy. Her research interests are centered in civic engagement, environmental policy, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.